Your smartphone could soon be a fully functional microscope capable of examining samples as small as 1/200th of a millimeter. Australian researchers have developed a clip-on device that requires no external light or power sources to produce a clear picture of microscopic organisms and cells from animals, plants and blood — and it can be made by anyone with a 3D printer, as the team is sharing the 3D printing files publicly.

Unlike other phone-based microscopes which use bulky LEDs and other power sources, the device works using internal illumination tunnels, which use light from the camera flash to illuminate the sample from behind. Lead developer Dr Anthony Orth said: “We’ve designed a simple mobile phone microscope that takes advantage of the integrated illumination available with nearly all smartphone cameras,” adding that the device can be used as “an inexpensive and portable tool for all types of onsite or remote-area monitoring.” The team anticipates the microscope being used to test water cleanliness, to detect disease and to analyze blood samples for parasites.

This isn’t the first time scientists have tried to turn smartphones into microscopes, but it’s comparatively the most successful. In 2016, Italian company Smart Micro Optics revealed its set of Blips lenses that could turn a phone’s camera into a digital microscope capable of magnifying up to 80 times, while 2013 saw a YouTuber demonstrate how it can be done using Plexiglas and a laser pointer.

I thought Far Cry 4 was the best in the series so excited for this one

TESLA MODEL 3 REVIEW: THE FAST AND INFURIATING

AccountExile

1d

Roberto, this is probably the best Model 3 review I’ve seen/read so far. Thanks!

THE MOON MAY HAVE FORMED INSIDE THE EARLY EARTH

quest101

1d

Fascinating!

CYBERDYNE’S THERAPEUTIC CYBORG LEGS ARRIVE IN THE US

racinjason88

9h

Are these the prototype legs for T100’s when Skynet goes online?!

THE FINNS WHO REFUSE TO GIVE UP ON SAILFISH OS

urgan

1d

They still owe me a tablet. I’m not going to forgive them for that one.

DELL XPS 13 REVIEW (2018): STILL THE BEST WINDOWS LAPTOP

Amy97

5h

I’ve got the 2016 varient of this machine. Still really capable but I’d like some more grunt in the gaming department for when I’m not just trying to do my faily workload. But for what it’s worth, it’s a solid machine.

GITHUB SURVIVES MASSIVE DDOS ATTACK RELATIVELY UNSCATHED

Matt_Weiler

1d

What piece of shit would attack GitHub?

TESTING THE GALAXY S9+ ON A NIGHT OUT IN BARCELONA

mattmurdog

53m

Yes, because we will all always be taking photos in no light. It’s very important.

FACEBOOK FOUND OUT NO ONE WANTS A SPLIT NEWS FEED

MrCynical

1d

Chronological order, it is all I ever wanted

LEAKED HUAWEI P20 LITE MAY BRING THE NOTCH TO MID-RANGE PHONES

Radioactive

14h

Each to their own. Personally I’m not a fan of the notch and would rather have a small bezel and have the display symettrical. To me it’s nothing more than companies claiming bragging rights over having an edge to edge display at the expense of aesthetics

ESA HASN’T RECEIVED AN INVITE TO DISCUSS VIDEO GAMES WITH TRUMP

deenyc

2h

This is always something Republicans like to throw out there to cause a distraction. Real violence and video game violence has already been proven false.

ALEXA LOST ITS VOICE… FOR REAL THIS TIME

BrianFL

1h

I’m not really sure if it was just Alexa. My FireTV and Firestick was telling me I had network issues also, yet every other device in my house was working fine. Amazon network outage maybe?

BREWIE IS BACK WITH VERSION 2.0 OF ITS AUTOMATED HOMEBREW MACHINE

mrreal

1d

I honestly thought this was a homebrew CPU.

SNAP MAY RELEASE TWO NEW PAIRS OF SPECTACLES SOON

kasperman

46m

This idea is bad, and they should feel bad.

AN LG G7 SHOWED UP IN BARCELONA AFTER ALL

uPhone

1d

A small screen notch on the top doesn’t necessarily make a top-notch phone.